* The FIRST Asian country to appear in finals was the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) in 1938.
* The FIRST player to score a hat-trick in a World Cup match was United States' Bert Patenaude who did this against Paraguay in the first round of the 1930 World Cup. Some records wrongly have the first player scoring a hat-trick as Guillermo Stabile of Argentina in their 6:3 win over Mexico on 19 July 1930, two days after Patenaude.
* The FIRST time the tradition of swapping shirts began in World Cup 1954.
* The FIRST scoreless match was Brazil vs England in Stockholm, Sweden on 11 June, 1958.
* The FIRST time drug testing was introduced was in World Cup finals in 1966. Players banned after failing in drug testing include Haiti's Ernest Jean-Joseph (1974), Scotland's Willie Johnston (1978) and Argentina's Diego Maradona (1994).
* The FIRST World Cup mascot was a lion-like boy called Willie used for the England 1966 World Cup.
* The FIRST player to score a header in the World Cup Final was Geoff Hurst of England, in 1966.
* The FIRST Asian team to progress beyond the first round of the World Cup finals was North Korea in 1966.
* The FIRST time substitutes were used in World Cup finals matches was 1970. Before 1970, only injured players were allowed to be replaced.
* The FIRST country to withdraw from the World Cup due to the inability to pay the entrance fee was Sri Lanka which withdrew from the 1978 World Cup.
* The FIRST match decided with a penalty shoot-out was the semi-final between West Germany and France on 8 July, 1982, in which the Germans won the shootout 5:4.
* The FIRST Final decided on penalty shoot-out was the 1994 final in which Brazil defeated Italy 3:2 on penalty shoot-out after the match finished in a 0:0 tie.
* The FIRST player to take a penalty shootout in a final was Franco Baresi of Italy, taking the shootout in the 1994 final but blasted it over the bar.
* The FIRST player to score a golden goal was France's Laurent Blanc in the 113th minute in the Second Round match against Paraquay on 28 June 1998.
* The FIRST French player to be sent off in World Cup finals was Zindine Zidane, in the first Round match against Saudi Arabia on 18 June 1998. France had kept a clean sheet for 68 years until France 98!
Hat-trick:
In sport, a hat-trick (or hat trick) means to achieve a positive feat in the sport three times during a game, or other achievements based on threes. For instance in association football or ice hockey a player might score three goals, whilst in cricket a bowler might take three wickets in three deliveries.